


Fallout: Atomic Renegade - Side Quests

by CommonwealthCharlie



Series: Fallout: Atomic Renegade [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Loss of Limbs, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 10:32:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10874952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommonwealthCharlie/pseuds/CommonwealthCharlie
Summary: These are "side quests" to the Fallout fan fiction "Fallout: Atomic Renegade". These side quests are short, typically one-off stories taken from different perspectives at specific times within the world of Fallout: Atomic Renegade. Each side quest is references at specific times within the Fallout: Atomic Renegade storyline to show when a good time to read them is. They offer specific insights into certain events, so follow along!





	Fallout: Atomic Renegade - Side Quests

**Point of View:** Juliette ‘Jules’ Ward

* * *

 It all starts off the same as so many other of my tales: I awake, confused and disoriented, not sure of my surroundings or how I got there. It’s a cliché that I am ashamed to be a part of, but it’s my life and that’s how it goes. This time was no different, so when I finally came to, I began going over my mental checklist.

There’s a strong taste of copper in my mouth; I turn my head to the side and spit, specks of red dotting the filthy floor. Blood. Nothing I haven’t seen before, so it doesn’t take much attention from me. There’s a smell of rotten food in the air, and I can hear the sound of murmuring and flies buzzing from somewhere nearby. Checkmark for all the key senses.

As my vision begins to focus in the dim lighting I take note of my surroundings. It appears that I’m in some sort of bedroom, as I can see a couple dressers, a busted out mirror, a rickety looking old chair, and some various clothes, boxes, and other junk littered around the room. There’s two doors in the room, and one of them has a heavy lock barring it shut. The other is cracked open, and it appears the room on the other side is completely dark. The only light in the room comes from a lantern hung at the other end of the room, hooked onto what looks like a rail spike topped with a decapitated head.

As for myself, I am strapped down to an old iron-frame bed, the mattress beneath me full of sharp springs that dig into my back each time I move. Leather straps hold me to each corner of the bed, the cuffs at my wrists and ankles digging into my skin. I then notice that I’m no longer in my regular clothes and am instead in a tattered silken night gown. I try not to think about how or why I got in the gown and go back to my checklist.

Key senses, check. Surroundings, check.

Next step? Figuring out my escape.

There’s nothing near me that I could use to get out of the leather straps, so I resort to sheer force. I try for a few minutes to simply break the straps, any of them, but do not succeed. In trying to force them free, however, I managed to get my left wrist strap loosened a bit. Calming myself, I put all my focus on slowly and cautiously trying to slip my wrist out of the strap. Each pull squeezes my hand tighter and tighter together, and just as I begin to fear that my thumb will pop out of socket, I slip free.

I wiggle my fingers, holding them before me as I smile at the sight, pleased at myself. But there’s no time to waste, so I get to untying the other straps promptly. Within a matter of moments I have them all undone, and am finally free of the wiry old bed.

As soon as my feet hit the cold wood floor I hear a faint voice from beyond the locked door at the other end of the room. Slowly I make my way towards the door as silently as I can, brushing some stray locks of blond hair behind my ear. As I get closer to the door the voice finally starts to become discernable. Once at the door I lean down and look through the key hole, trying to see beyond.

“But, mother, we can’t keep her alive. We can barely keep each other fed as it is. And that man won’t last us long if—“

“Quiet, idiot! Jareth will be back any time. Do you want him to hear you talking like that? Think of what he’ll do to us.”

“No, I know, but this… she’s not worth it. What if she wakes up? What are you going to do, punch her out again?”

“If that’s what it takes, then yes.”

“You know he’ll kill you if he knows you laid a hand on her! You can tell just by looking at her face she’s been hit. You think he’ll let you—“

I jump a bit at the sound of a gunshot, followed by heavy screaming. I look back through the keyhole just in time to hear a smack, the screaming stopping.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to backtalk me?! How many god damned times?! Now shut your ungrateful ass up and go bandage that wound. If you’re lucky I hit an artery, then you won’t have to worry about not having enough food and I won’t have to listen to that mouth of yours. Christ.”

I can hear the man whimpering, the other woman clearly being the one that’d shot him. There’s a bit of silence for a few moments and I move back away from the door silently. From what I can gather, there’s at least four people in total, not including myself; those two, a man named Jareth, and someone else; some “man”. I don’t want to think about what they plan to do with me; I just know that I have to escape. Fast.

Quickly I begin to move around the room, looking for tools that can help me escape. There’s the lantern hanging from the spike near me, but I don’t dare touch it just yet. In one of the dressers I find some bobby pins. Inside the second, cracked door I find a bunch of old clothing and boxes, but not much of value. I do manage to fasten a makeshift shiv from a piece of broken glass, using some of the old cloth and one of the leather straps off the bed to make a handle so that I don’t cut myself when holding it.

Just as I’m about to try and pick the door’s lock open I hear the very clear sound of heavy footsteps on the other side of the door. My heart begins to race, and I look around the room, trying to decide what to do. The footsteps draw closer and closer, and I know I have to think quick. Suddenly, it hits me, and I race back to the bed.

Moments later the locked door opens, and I finally get a glimpse at my captor. The woman appears middle-aged, clad in a mix of leather and metal armors, all stained with what I presume to be blood. Her eyes are covered by goggles, but all I need to see is the devilish smile sprawled over her lips to know exactly what kind of person she is.

“My, my, I had no idea you were awake, dear. So rude of me.”

The woman’s voice is low, and she slowly makes her way towards me. As she approaches her gaze moves down to a blanket that’s covering my legs. Her smile fades, and she begins to slowly run her fingertips over the blanket. My heart begins to race.

“Who left this here…? The legs are his favorite part.”

She grips the blanket, and I begin to tense up. Beneath the blanket my feet are loose from the shackles; she’ll know that I got out. Just as she is about to rip the blanket off of me, though, there comes a pounding noise from outside the room. The woman lets go of the blanket and turns angrily towards the doorway, before looking back at me.

“Just you wait, dear, he’ll be here soon.”

The woman runs her fingers over my cheek, but I don’t turn my gaze from her. I’m no fool; I know what she wants with me. And I don’t give a fuck.

The pounding sounds again and the woman growls, stomping towards the doorway. She takes one last look at me before slamming the door shut. I wait until I can hear the lock slide closed on the door before wiggling out of the restraints again and hopping out of the bed. I turn my attention towards the doorway, the sound of arguing coming from the other side.

This is my chance, and maybe my only chance. I move to the door quickly, pulling the bobby pins from my hair, starting to try and pick the door’s lock. The glass shiv lays on the floor next to me. I know that if I get the door open I will have to fight, because it’s unlikely that I will be able to sneak my way out of there. I’m ready, but anxious. My heart nearly pounds from my chest which each adjustment of the bobby pin in the lock, until it finally clicks.

Taking in a deep breath, I stand up, shiv in hand, and start to turn the doorknob. As soon as I open the door, though, the arguing outside the room stops. I pause for a few moments, now entirely unsure of what to expect. Slowly I crack the door open, looking around. Nothing. Heart still racing, I step out into the room, looking around me. There’s a few doorways near one end, and a stairwell towards the other.

That’s it; the stairwell. My exit. I take one last look around the room before I start to walk as silently and briskly towards the stairs as I can.

“Where do you think you’re going, missy?”

I freeze. It’s the woman, standing behind me. I turn around to see her near the other end of the room, a barrel full of burning refuse the only thing between me and her in the room. The light from the flames licks her face, giving her even more of a crazed look than before.

“Well? Where were you going? You going to answer me, or are you going to make me come over there? Huh?!”

The woman raises her voice, glaring heavily. She begins to move slowly towards me, moving around the burning barrel. I now see that she holds a pistol in her hand, and my heart begins to drop.

“We invited you into our home, our _family_ , made you an offering for _him_. Yet you try and escape, try and _leave_? You ungrateful little shit. You were never worthy of his grace. And you never will be.”

I stand there, frozen in fear, as the woman raises her pistol and points it at my head. My breath stills and my heart stops, as I await the sound of my demise.

_Bang!_

I close my eyes. I wait.

_Thud._

Slowly I open my eyes back up, and instantly my hand flies up to cover my mouth. My hand opens and I drop the glass shiv to the floor. My body begins to go weak.

The woman lays dead, crumpled into a heap on the floor, a bullet wound clear through her temple. But that is not what has my body shaking. It’s the man standing past her, leaning against the wall for support, gun raised shakily in the air. Covered in blood, shirtless, breathing heavily.

“Walker…?”

In the dim light of the flames I can barely make out the look on his face. Pain. He drops the gun, and as it falls to the ground he leans fully into the wall, before falling to one knee, and then to the floor.

Instantly I rush to his side, sidestepping the body of the woman as I approach Walker. I slow down as I approach him, hand coming to my mouth once more as I finally get a good look at him.

It’s him, and he’s alive. Barely, but alive. He’s covered in blood, his bare chest raising and lowering with each shallow breath. His eyes are closed, mouth slightly ajar. But that’s not what surprises me.

Shaking, I kneel down next to him. I reach one out to him, trembling fingers touching his pale, cold skin.

He’s missing an arm. Just below his elbow his arm is gone; a clean cut straight through the bone. A leather strap tied tightly just above his elbow has stopped him from bleeding out, but just barely. I begin to panic, completely forgetting about the situation around me.

A sudden groaning noise pulls my attention away from Walker, and I look up into the room that Walker must’ve come out of. My eyes go wide in shock at the scene before me. An old bathroom, covered in blood, human remains littering the floor.

There, in the bathtub, is the man who the woman had been talking to earlier; the one I’d seen through the keyhole, who’d been shot for speaking back to her.

And then, finally, it hit me.

These people weren’t just raiders. They were cannibals.

Shaking, I looked down at Walker as he gasped for air. I reached out to him, holding his face in my hands as he breathed.

“Juliette… I can’t, my arm… I…”

His voice was shallow, barely able to form words as he coughed. I shushed him lightly, trying to find the ability to speak myself.

“Walker, Walker, stay with me. Come on, stay with me. I’m going to help you. I’m going to get you out of here, okay? I promise. Just stay with me. Please, Walker, stay… stay with me.”

I can barely stay coherent, but I know that I have to. For him. As I finish speaking he looks up at me, takes one more big breath, then his eyes roll back in his head and he goes limp. I stare back at him, eyes wide, for a moment as I try to process what happened.

“No… no, no, no, oh Walker, oh, god, Walker, please… oh no, oh no, oh god…”

I begin to lose it, feeling panic and fear starting to take over me.

“Juliette? Juliette, what’s…”

I turn, looking towards the stairwell. Although my eyes filled with tears I can make out the shape of Charlie and Ronnie, who slowly start to make their way towards me. I can’t help it anymore and burst into full on tears, my hands resting on Walker’s bloodied body. Everything around me begins to slow and fade out, panic taking over me.

All I can think about is how badly I don’t want to lose him. And yet my biggest fear is coming true before my very eyes.

It’s in their hands now.

┌──────────────────────────────┐

 **QUEST COMPLETE:** WELCOME TO THE FAMILY

└──────────────────────────────┘


End file.
